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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Sociopath alert: Goran Lindberg

A commenter ("A") just pointed out, after the previous post:

Another example of this is the former Swedish chief of police Göran "Captain Skirt" Lindberg, who made his name promoting gender issues in the police force, equality, blah blah... while at the same time being a pimp and a rapist (among his victims was apparently a 14 yo girl).

[He] served as rector of the Swedish National Police Academy 1989–1997 and as police commissioner in Uppsala County 1997–2006. After stepping down as police commissioner, he was an adviser on gender equality and sexual harassment to the National Police Directorate.

He was arrested on 25 January 2010 and charged with multiple sex offenses, including the rape of a 14-year-old child. He was subsequently also charged with raping several other women, and of procuring. On 30 July 2010, he was convicted of several sex offenses, including rape, and sentenced to 6.5 years in prison by the Sodertorn District Court.

The commenter is right, of course, Lindberg is a perfect example of what I was talking about in the previous post: beware those who parade themselves as pillars of moral rectitude.

(I suppose, at a certain level, that's what I do on this blog, by castigating sociopaths; you'll just have to take my word that I'm not one -- though, of course, that's exactly what a sociopath would say.)

Lindberg is actually an interesting case study on another front as well: there's something about that face which is unmistakably sociopathic. Note the smug, self-satisfied look about the eyes, the completely relaxed affect (as if he knows he's in control), and the sneer playing about those thin lips. The impression the photo leaves is of an uninhibited, vicious, feral man, hiding behind a badge.

8 comments:

Pavonine99
said...

"I suppose, at a certain level, that's what I do on this blog, by castigating sociopaths; you'll just have to take my word that I'm not one -- though, of course, that's exactly what a sociopath would say."

This is going to sound bizarre, but I can tell from your writing style that you're not a sociopath. Their writing has this peculiar tone-they aren't really outraged,or saddened, or passionate about anything, and they have no grasp of irony, and all of this becomes obvious when they write at length. There's one who keeps a blog, and while I highly doubt he's as scary/charming/omnipotent as he claims to be, I don't doubt him when he says that he's a clinical psychopath.

Having said that, I'm not sure I entirely agree with you about sociopathic writing. They are not saddened by the types of things which would sadden you or me, but I've seen plenty of them get outraged (mostly at anything they consider an affront to themselves). And I've known a few with decent senses of humor, although I know what you mean when you say they tend not to have much grasp of irony.

Most sociopaths don't write much anyway. They generally want more hands on contact with people, if not Ted Bundy-style, then at least from some sort of position of power from which they can inconvenience/bully/stymie others more directly.

Oh, I don't deny that they become angry about things concerning themselves, I meant that they don't get upset about more impersonal things, like cruelty or injustice. That's another thing: they seem to have a poor grasp of abstract concepts in general.

I recently read a book ('The Wisdom of Psychopaths' by Kevin Dutton) suggesting that police officers generally score higher than average on sociopathy tests. No wonder police brutality and coerced, false confessions are so common.

Gethin --That's not surprising. I've always thought that there is a higher incidence of sociopathy among cops than among the general population. I think the vast majority of cops are good guys, but there's a definite minority who see their job as an opportunity to kick ass.

Gethin-Just because someone has more sociopathic traits does not necessarily mean they actually are sociopaths. Things like extroversion and high stress tolerence are qualities that many good people can have, and those people would be drawn to the police force because they have those qualities. Tests that measure sociopathic traits can be helpful, but they can also be misleading. Ordinary people with significant personal problems can score highly on them, while actual psychopaths who keep out of trouble can score lower.But I agree with John that there are a fair number of bonafide sociopaths on the force as well.

About Me

Virtually everyone who knows John finds him completely tactless and insufferably opinionated. He sees himself as refreshingly honest. That said, this blog is still an excellent way to kill time while putting off work. If you're a newcomer, you might find browsing through the older posts an amusing waste of time as well.